1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to readily transportable packs, bags, and other types of luggage used in handling and storing numerous, independent components of equipment, supplies, or clothing. More particularly, this invention is directed to a portable pack or other type of luggage wherein all of the stored components are readily and independently accessible, even when the pack is located in a confined area.
2. The Prior Art
Numerous types of luggage, backpacks, and other types of travel bags are, of course, well known in the art. For example, many types of conventional suitcases are available. Most suitcases, however, must be folded open so that when the suitcase is open it occupies approximately twice as much surface area as it does when it is closed. Similarly, this is also often true of other types of luggage and travel bags.
One of the major problems which is increasingly encountered in crowded aircraft and other confined areas is the necessity of accessing the interior of a bag or other piece of luggage in a confined space. Because of the small amount of the space available in a crowded aircraft or bus, or even in a closet, access to suitcases is often extremely limited or unavailable since it is unlikely that there will be sufficient space available to fully unfold a suitcase.
Access to specific needed items located within the suitcase is often very restricted in such areas of confinement. Frequently, conventional packs permit access to their contents through a single opening in one portion of the body of the pack. In the use of packs having only a single opening for access, it would be appreciated that rapid identification of desired items from deep within the pack can be extremely difficult and a frustration task. Likewise, for the reasons mentioned above it is generally difficult to open a suitcase in a confined area sufficiently to readily identify all of the contents.
Another problem which is often encountered in the use of conventional luggage is the inability to separate various items stored within the luggage. For example, most conventional suitcases provide few, if any, separate compartments for storing different types of clothing. As a result, it is not unusual for a traveler's toiletries to become mixed with his clothing, and for various types of clothing to become intermixed. This problem is further complicated when the pack or luggage must carry food items, cooking utensils, and similar supplies. Intermixing of such items can result in soiled clothing and damaged supplies.
Prior art packs and luggage rarely provided a method for easily unpacking or for carrying certain items to locations remote from the luggage. For example, it may be desirable to easily remove all of one's socks, shirts, or athletic equipment and place them in appropriate locations in a hotel room. Similarly, when backpacking it may be desirable to carry certain cooking utensils to another part of a camp. These needs have not been adequately met in the prior art.
Accordingly, it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide a travel pack which could carry various types of equipment, clothing, or food in segregated compartments.
It would be a still further advancement in the art if some of the contents of the bag could be transported to a location remote from the bag itself. It would be a further advancement in the art if the entire contents of the pack were readily accessible and identifiable, even in confined areas. It would also be an advancement in the art to provide a travel pack wherein various pieces of equipment, clothing, and supplies could be removed in separate pouches. Such apparatus are described and claimed herein.